Evaluating the Impact of Topography and Land Use and Cover Change on the Resilience to Climate Change Among the Rice Farmers of Bharathapuzha Basin, Kerala

Rivers across the world are facing degradation due to natural causes and intensive anthropogenic activities. The Bharathapuzha river basin, Palakkad, Kerala, a lifeline of the rice bowl of Palakkad district has witnessed drastic visually evident changes in its land cover and land use patterns and extreme weather events in the recent past. This chapter aims to evaluate how the natural topography and the LULC changes in the basin influence the resilience of rice farmers to weather, climate change, and sea level rise. The basin extends eastward from the Western Ghats to the Palakkad gap and tapering down to the Arabian Seacoast. The flow regime of the river covers uplands, midlands, and the lowlands. The eastern section of the basin has high mountains, extensive ravines, and dense forests; hence, majority of the rice lands are located within the low and mid portion of the basin. It has a gentle mountain front with vast plain areas. Change assessment using Landsat-5 and Landsat-8 satellite images for 2002 and 2022 years, respectively, shows that urbanization and drying of river has influenced the alteration of rice growing areas. The random survey conducted during the Viruppu/Kharif rice growing season, in 2023, has revealed that the failure of monsoonMonsoon during June and July 2023 has influenced the farmers in the midlands where the river is dry and faced with water shortage, even in August; farmers were dependent on groundwater for irrigation. Surface and groundwater resources in the basin also have a profound impact and affect thousands of dependent farmers directly or indirectly. The majority of the rice farming areas is within 20 mt of elevation; sea level rise may also impact the resilience of rice farmers in the low-lying areas at the tail end of the basin. According to the anticipated sea level rise scenario, SLR in the estuary along the tail end of the basin near the Ponnani coastlines might rise by 1.3 mt under the Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 high-emission carbon pollution scenario. Adaptation measures such as creating farm ponds, renovating small storage tanks, promoting salt, drought, and flood-tolerant rice varieties, adopting integrated farming using rice + fish + duck, and creating windbreaks are promoted among the farmers as part of enhancing resilience.